Despite a disappointing qualifying session for last weekends Australian Grand Prix, the Caterham team are happy with how their race turned out.
Charles Pic managed to finish ahead of Max Chilton's Marussia and challenged the Brit's team-mate Jules Bianchi on numerous occasions. Rookie Giedo van der Garde had a good battle with Chilton and despite finishing last of the 18 finishers he was happy to cross the chequered flag on his debut.
Pic said "That wasn't too bad a race for us. Of course we'd prefer to finish higher but I think that at this stage of the season this reflects out current performance levels.
"We started on the super-softs and our pace was okay for the first stint but the tyres dropped off very quickly. In contrast when we went onto the mediums the degradation levels were very good so we were able to push the stint much longer than we'd planned and that gave us a chance to fight. Unfortunately towards the end of the race we had a KERS failure which obviously cut our outright pace and prevented us from taking full advantage of the good tyre wear we saw on the primes.
However Pic knows that the team can not make a quick fix and move up the order, it will take a few races to get going with a big upgrade coming for the fifth round of the season in Spain.
"We know that it's going to be similar to this for the first few races, but with what we have coming it's going to be a really interesting season. We have quite a few small details we need to work on for the next race but it's good to have a real fight on our hands, good for the team and the fans so let's see how this progresses."
For team-mate Giedo van der Garde he was just happy to finish on his debut in the sport. Incredibly all five rookie drivers managed to finish the race, and the Dutch driver knows the importance of finishing.
"For me that was a reasonable start to my F1 career. It was really important to finish my first race and that's exactly what I did so I'm pretty happy with how it ended up.
"I started the race on the super-softs, passed a few people in the first turn and was keeping up with Bianchi until the first pitstop, even with the deg levels on the option tyres. Unfortunately I had a slow puncture on the first set of mediums and that cost me time and position. We had to stop much earlier than planned to put a new set of mediums on and that meant a change to the strategy, but it's all good experience for me.
"I've said all through pre-season that the first races are a chance for me to learn and today was really good for that. I feel good physically and now we have a lot more information about tyre wear and how to manage that so we'll take that to next week's race in Malaysia and see what we can do our first home race of the season."
Caterham currently look slower than main rivals Marussia, not where the Leafield based team want to be.
The squad are not planning any main upgrades until Barcelona, so until then we will have to see how they go until then. First though, they have to tackle the tough challenges of Malaysia.
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| (c) Caterham F1 Team |
Pic said "That wasn't too bad a race for us. Of course we'd prefer to finish higher but I think that at this stage of the season this reflects out current performance levels.
"We started on the super-softs and our pace was okay for the first stint but the tyres dropped off very quickly. In contrast when we went onto the mediums the degradation levels were very good so we were able to push the stint much longer than we'd planned and that gave us a chance to fight. Unfortunately towards the end of the race we had a KERS failure which obviously cut our outright pace and prevented us from taking full advantage of the good tyre wear we saw on the primes.
However Pic knows that the team can not make a quick fix and move up the order, it will take a few races to get going with a big upgrade coming for the fifth round of the season in Spain.
"We know that it's going to be similar to this for the first few races, but with what we have coming it's going to be a really interesting season. We have quite a few small details we need to work on for the next race but it's good to have a real fight on our hands, good for the team and the fans so let's see how this progresses."
For team-mate Giedo van der Garde he was just happy to finish on his debut in the sport. Incredibly all five rookie drivers managed to finish the race, and the Dutch driver knows the importance of finishing.
"For me that was a reasonable start to my F1 career. It was really important to finish my first race and that's exactly what I did so I'm pretty happy with how it ended up.
"I started the race on the super-softs, passed a few people in the first turn and was keeping up with Bianchi until the first pitstop, even with the deg levels on the option tyres. Unfortunately I had a slow puncture on the first set of mediums and that cost me time and position. We had to stop much earlier than planned to put a new set of mediums on and that meant a change to the strategy, but it's all good experience for me.
"I've said all through pre-season that the first races are a chance for me to learn and today was really good for that. I feel good physically and now we have a lot more information about tyre wear and how to manage that so we'll take that to next week's race in Malaysia and see what we can do our first home race of the season."
Caterham currently look slower than main rivals Marussia, not where the Leafield based team want to be.
The squad are not planning any main upgrades until Barcelona, so until then we will have to see how they go until then. First though, they have to tackle the tough challenges of Malaysia.
1 comment:
Great piece Jack, as always. I am really looking forward to the Caterham vs Marussia battle this season. It is tantalizingly close at the moment, but I think Bianchi gives Marussia the edge currently. It will be interesting to see how both teams develop their respective cars.
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